The Short Title of this Act shall be “The Telegraph Service of Notices Act, 1872.”

The term “notice,” when used in this Act, means any notice or other document which by law or the agreement of parties is required to be served upon any person, or at his house or place of abode or business, in order that such person may be affected thereby; and to the end that the application of this Act may be put beyond doubt, the Governor in Council may by order from time to time prescribe and define classes and kinds of notices or other documents which shall be included within the said term and thereupon the said term shall be deemed to include all notices and documents falling within such classes and kinds so defined and prescribed as if the same were in this Act expressly mentioned as so included; and the Governor in Council may from time to time revoke or alter any such Order.

Such definitions so contained in any such Order or Orders in Council shall limit the definition hereinbefore contained to the classes and kinds of documents so specified, and this Act shall apply to none other.

Any person who desires to serve within New Zealand any notice upon another, or at the place of abode or business of another, may do so by delivering such notice to any Telegraph Officer at any of the Telegraph Offices in the Colony, and requesting that the same may be served by a Telegraph Officer under this Act, and on complying with such conditions and requirements as may be prescribed in any regulations made by the Governor in Council under this Act and for the time being in force.

The Governor in Council may from time to time make regulations providing for the service of such notices so deposited by the service of Telegraph copies of such notices, and for prescribing the manner in which the service of such copies shall be made, and for certifying by Telegraph Officers that such service has been effected, and the manner of such service and the time thereof, and generally for the purpose of carrying out the objects of this Act, which regulations shall have the force of law as if included in this Act.

A certificate purporting to be signed by any such officer according to such regulations, and indorsed on the original notice so deposited, shall be received in and before all Courts and other tribunals, and on all occasions and for all purposes, as evidence that such service of a telegraphic copy of such original notice has been effected, and of the time and manner thereof; and in and by such regulations, fees may be fixed to be paid in addition to the ordinary Telegraph charges, for the service of such notices, and for such certificates and other matters to be done under this Act, and any such regulation may in like manner be revoked or altered; and a copy of the New Zealand Gazette containing any regulation purporting to be made hereunder shall be proof of such regulation.

A telegraphic copy of a notice served under and in the manner provided by this Act, and any regulations made hereunder, upon a person, or at his place of abode, or at his place of business, shall have the same force and effect as if the original notice were served upon such person personally, or at his place of abode or place of business, as the case may be.

If the name and address of the officer purporting to sign any such certificate correspond with the name and address of a person specified in any notice published in the New Zealand Gazette, purporting to be signed by the Commissioner of Telegraphs, and declaring that the persons named therein are authorized to sign such certificate as aforesaid, the production of a copy of such Gazette with such notice therein shall be evidence that the person purporting to sign such certificate is authorized to do so.